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Plan now for Organic September

Organic September encourages people to eat, drink, use and choose organic every September. 2018 is set to be the biggest yet, de-mystifying organic and showing consumers how easy organic food is to introduce to their daily lives.

The main thing to note is that it is completely FREE to join in and all businesses taking part will be given a “toolkit” of materials, both print and digital, to help support their Organic September activity, whether or not they are certified by the Soil Association.

For independents, there’s a free visual merchandising guide to help get the organic message across in the run-up, including a new point-of-sale toolkit, available in June, to help highlight organic products with clear messages for shoppers.

Organic September Saturday (September 15) is the day during which hundreds of independent retailers will open their doors and showcase their organic goods, with shops offering sampling sessions, demos and discounts in-store.

Go!Organic Festival (September 8-9, Battersea Park, London) is the largest consumer-facing organic festival in the UK, with 15,000 people expected to attend over two days for food, music, family fun, demonstrations, activities and entertainment.

Nielsen Scantrack data shows that Organic September 2017 delivered a sales growth of 7.1% over the month. Organic categories driving growth included produce, which increased by 7.6%, eggs (+ 11.5%); cheese (+15.4%) and wine, which increased by a massive 41% as a result of organic wine being more widely available to consumers.

Meat (driven by bacon and sausages), fish and poultry was up 13.8%, suggesting that consumers are taking an increased interest in animal welfare and provenance. Fish continues apace, driven by sales of salmon and seaweed, while organic fruit sales rose by 11.7%, with growth coming from soft fruit and apples.